TUF 22: McGregor vs Faber Episode 3 Recap

Dana White talked about McGregor to begin the episode, and mentioned that Conor doesn’t show up for Team Europe’s morning practice. He sends his coaches to give the team a light workout, and gets hands-on for the night practice. Dana said that Conor gives off the persona that he doesn’t care much about TUF, but really does. Whether or not that’s him covering for his golden boy, I don’t know, but McGregor seems very enthusiastic in the clips of Europe’s night practice.

Chris Gruetzemacher gives some backstory on himself. His grandfather was a Senator in Chile, who was captured and tortured by a corrupt dictator, and his father was shot and killed when Chris was young. So, you could see why he fights for a living. Highlights from Team USA’s practice show they have much more of a “team mindset” than Team Europe.

Sascha Sharma speaks about getting an infection when he was 11 years old that put him in a wheelchair, and almost killed him. Fighters are kinda like superheroes with their tragic backstories, huh?

Urijah Faber and a few Alpha-Males went to the TUF house to watch TJ Dillashaw vs Renan Barao II, which was awesome to see. They were losing it for their teammate as he finished the fight. McGregor and Faber talked about the fight the next day, and Conor told Urijah he needs to fight Dillashaw. His exact quote was, “Stop being a pussy. Man up. That’s the fight to make. You ain’t got nothing left.” I think Urijah knows that fight is where the money is, but he was trying his best not to show it. It was like watching middle schoolers tell their friend to ask a girl out, and he just keeps looking at the ground saying, “Nah, nah. We’re just friends. Only friends.”

Chris Gruetzemacher (USA) vs Sascha Sharma (Europe)

Round 1 was all Sascha. Some heavy boxing jabs, knees to the body, and a takedown that led to a triangle. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t hold it for very long. Sascha also kicked Gruetzemacher’s face in from his back. Chris landed some elbows toward the end of the round, and escaped a submission or two, but Round 1 goes to Sharma. A side note: every time Sascha landed a hit, McGregor went “EYYYYYYYY” and it made me laugh every time.

Gruetzemacher had a resurgence in Round 2, in which he immediately took Sharma down and busted him open. Sascha hesitantly got to his feet, where he stayed for all of 2 seconds. Chris had him on his back yet again, and McGregor lost his shit. Conor got up, whipped his glasses at the cage, and screamed “Stay on your fucking feet! Stay on the feet!” Sharma couldn’t do what his coach was asking him for, because the rest of the round was spent on the mat, where he struggled. Gruetzemacher had a good ground game that won him the second.

The fight was scored evenly, so a third round was put into place. Before Round 3 began, McGregor stressed that Sascha absolutely NEEDS to stay on his feet to win the fight. Less than 10 seconds into sudden death, Sascha went for a takedown, and did so poorly. This absolutely shocked me. I stood up and yelled “What the fuck?!” in unison with McGregor. Conor obviously wasn’t happy, and called his fighter a little bitch. Sharma couldn’t get off the mat, and whenever he had an opportunity to, he didn’t even try. Terrible effort in the final round. Chris Gruetzemacher wins via unanimous decision.

After the fight, Faber walked up to Conor, and said, “Maybe it’s time you start showing up to morning practices.” McGregor didn’t say a word back to him. It was a strange sight.